War of the worlds was originally a book published in 1898

Orson Welles narrated the broadcast in 1938 radio drama, he explained to reporters that he had no intention to cause a panic. October 31st, 1938

original release: October 30th, 1938, 8 – 9 pm ET

The war of the worlds was a Halloween episode of the radio series The mercury theatre on the Air directed and narrated by Orson Welles as an adaption of H . G. wells novel The war of the worlds. It was performed and broadcasted live at 8 pm ET on October 30, 1938 over the CBS Radio Network.

The second portion of the show shifts to a conventional radio drama format that follows a survivor (played by Welles) dealing with the aftermath of the invasion and the ongoing Martian occupation of Earth. 

Some listeners heard only a portion of the broadcast and, in the tension and anxiety prior to World War II, mistook it for a genuine news broadcast. Thousands of them shared the false reports with others or called CBS, newspapers, or the police to ask if the broadcast was real.

The episode is famous for inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian invasion was taking place, though the scale of panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.

Orson Welles prepared to direct 10 actors and a 27-piece orchestra for the Columbia Broadcasting System’s weekly “Mercury Theatre on the Air” program.

Millions of Americans back then listened to CBS but it was announced that welles and his cast members were presenting  an original dramatization of the 1898 H.G. Wells science-fiction novel “The War of the Worlds.” Instead, most of the country was tuned in to NBC’s popular “Chase and Sanborn Hour,” which featured ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. 

For the rest of the hour, terror crackled over the airwaves. Breathless reporters detailed an extra-terrestrial army of squid-like figures that killed thousands of earthlings with heat rays and black clouds of poison gas as they steamrolled into New York City. Welles and the rest of the cast impersonated astronomers, state militia officials and even the Secretary of the Interior, who cannily sounded like President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A remake of the radio broadcast based on The War of the Worlds (1938) brought pandemonium to Quito, Ecuador, in 1949, as thousands of people attempted to escape impending Martian gas raids. A mob set fire to the radio station’s building, killing fifteen inside.

History context

People back then were vulnerable to fake news because they lacked other news sources, They were limited back then compared to now.

 By the end of the broadcast, CBS’s switchboard was ablaze, phone lines to police stations were jammed, people around the country were panicking, and people in Newark, N.J. wrapped their faces in wet towels and drove like hell out of town

 Researchers estimated, conservatively, that about 6 million people (a small audience then) heard the show, and about a million or so were genuinely frightened.

 Those who tuned in late and did not hear the opening disclaimer that this was a play were especially prone to being scared. In the first three weeks after the broadcast, newspapers around the country ran more than 12,500 stories about its impact.

39:30 it stops and fades off until

 It was still the Great Depression, with the unemployment rate hovering around 19 percent. In places like Flint, Mich., nearly half of the city’s families were on public relief

 Americans were experiencing this seemingly relentless economic uncertainty, another world war seemed imminent. Just one month before the broadcast, Hitler, having already annexed Austria, demanded that Germany be allowed to annex a portion of Czechoslovakia.

 Those who failed to ​“fact check” in some manner were more likely to panic, as were those with the least education and those who were highly suggestible

 The researchers also found that religion was an important factor in people falling for the broadcast; those who had strong, Bible-based beliefs thought this was the apocalypse, an act of God.

The New York Times reported “a wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners” with some adults requiring “medical treatment for shock and hysteria”. Apparently, “thousands of persons” phoned different agencies “seeking advice on protective measures against the raids”

Theory’s

The cultivation theory: This theory can explain some of the hysteria that was caused. Gerbner’s research showed that heavy users of television, radio and newspapers have become more used to its messages.

First, “The War of the Worlds” was aired by Columbia Broadcasting Systems (CBS) – one of only two national broadcasters who were trusted by millions of listeners every day to deliver reliable and impartial news.

 It is also important to note that CBS frequently interrupted scheduled programmes to inform their listeners of the latest updates from Europe.

 In the weeks prior to “The War of the Worlds” episode, the network reported on Hitler’s continued occupation Czechoslovakia and the inevitability of another global conflict.